Man's Will Disinherits Grandson Unless Gay Son Marries Woman

The grandchild of the late Frank Mandelbaum is being denied his share of his $180k inheritance because his father is married to a man.

BY Jeremy Kinser

August 19 2012 4:26 PM ET

When Frank Mandelbaum died he left a trust worth $180,000 for his grandchildren but his will stipulates that the child of his gay son Robert will only receive his inheritance if Robert is married to a woman, reports New York Post.

Mandelbaum, founder of ID verification company Intelli-Check, died in 2007 and his will contains an edict that none of the trust fund set up for his grandchildren will go to any offspring his son Robert might have if he “not be married to the child’s mother within six months of the child’s birth.”

Robert Mandelbaum is a Manhattan Criminal Court Judge, and is arguing in a court battle that his longtime partner Jonathan O’Donnell is the only “mother” their 16-month-old son, Cooper, knows.

A law guardian appointed to look out for Cooper’s interests states that there are “significant public policy reasons” for ignoring the dictate of Robert's late father.

“Requiring a gay man to marry a woman...to ensure his child’s bequest is tantamount to expecting him either to live in celibacy, or to engage in extramarital activity with another man, and is therefore contrary to public policy,” writes attorney Anne Bederka in court papers. “There is no doubt that what [Frank Mandelbaum] has sought to do is induce Robert to marry a woman.”